If you're a cord cutter or want to be, but can't abandon network TV, you need Hulu. The service is best known for streaming shows the day after they air, specifically shows from a few of the five major networks (ABC, NBC, and Fox.) CBS has its own streaming service and Hulu's next-day CW shows deal evaporated in 2016.

When it first emerged, we dinged Hulu for a lack of news, sports, and original programming, as well as ads that interrupted the paid version, all points that were probably big factors in Hulu's relatively slow growth. Those fortunes have changed. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hulu spent $800 million in 2015 on programming—it even got an Emmy nod for one original show, Casual.
We're used to awards and exclusives from Netflix, but it's new territory for Hulu.

Best of all, after years of paying for a service and still seeing ads, Hulu finally has a commercial-free option. The basic subscription is still $7.99 (it's no longer called Hulu Plus, even though that logo still pops up on some apps) and means you get video at 720p; for an extra $4 subscribers get zero commercials (with specific exceptions: Grey's Anatomy, Once Upon A Time, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Scandal, New Girl, Grimm, and How To Get Away With Murder all show an ad at the beginning and end of each streamed episode).

Hulu "pioneered" the add-on option by offering Showtime content and its entire back catalog for an extra $8.99. That means access to new shows the day after, plus years' worth of shows like Dexter, Penny Dreadful and Californication for $2 cheaper per month than standalone Showtime. A commercial-free Hulu with Showtime subscription costs $20.98 a month. (Amazon Prime Video has the same thing with even more partners, including Showtime and Starz and Seeso.)

Hulu also includes movies—it's currently got Mr. Holmes, Terminator: Genisys, Interstellar, Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, Selma, several Bond films, every Star Trek TV show (but not the films), and lots of stuff Netflix has recently lost. (Hulu's movie catalog has a 1,000 times more schlocky crap than even Netflix or even Crackle). There's also a good anime selection.

Hulu also offers content from some networks, like Syfy and USA, some of which you can only watch in a Web browser, other content you can only view if you confirm you have an account with a "participating provider" of cable or satellite TV like Dish, Verizon Fios, Optimum, or Cox.

Hulu is on the upswing. It only had 4.5 million subscribers in 2013 and jumped to 12 million in 2016. Not bad for a service that, unlike Netflix and others, is only available in two countries: the United States and Japan, where it's operated by a third party. Netflix, by comparison, has over 86.7 million subscribers worldwide, with 47 million in just the US.

And there are major changes coming for Hulu. It's got a new investor, Time Warner, which bought a 10 percent stake. With that comes access to shows from its vaults at CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network, TNT, and more. What's more, in its biggest change ever, Hulu plans to transform into a live TV service, taking on Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, and DirecTV Now probably for around $40 per month

Hulu is not a hard service to navigate, no matter what device you're on—PC, smart TV, apps, or media hubs. Read through to master Hulu in all its forms.

A Good Looking Profile

Netflix has long offered the ability to create a profile for each member of the household (or someone outside your household)—now Hulu has it . You should see it as an option in the dropdown menu on Hulu.com, or when you sign in to Hulu on a TV interface, such as through an Xbox or Roku. Set up a profile for anyone you want (up to six)—they can then create their own Watchlist, so yours isn't gummed up with shows and movies you don't like. You can make a profile Kids-specific to prevent them adding adult stuff. The downside, as always with the current version of Hulu, is while you can have your account (and thus a Profile) on multiple devices, only one device can technically stream at a time.

If you can't access Profiles yet, wait a while. Hulu is still rolling it out to some accounts. It's also not yet available for Hulu mobile apps.

Don't Let Apple Over Charge You for Hulu

Did you sign up for Hulu's No Commercial plan through iTunes or Apple TV? If so, you're paying too much! Apple charges an extra fee that Hulu passes on to you: $13.99 a month instead of $11.99, plus, you can't get the Showtime Add-on. The only way to get out of this Faustian bargain: cancel your Hulu account and go on the Web to create another—which will work fine with Apple TV.

Use the Advanced Search

There's just one search box on the top of each Hulu page, but it's powerful if you use operators—the little symbols that allow combinations of terms, and let you filter out unwanted terms, look for content in shows, seasons of a show, or episodes by number. For example, search for "fey +poehler" will find stuff with both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler appearing (while "fey -poehler" eschews anything where they're together, so you get Tina alone). Use quotation marks around a phrase to get that exact wording ("the force awakens"), and the "show:" operator to limit it to one program (show:"South Park"). You can find the full list of advanced search operators here.

Pre-set Favorites to Fill your Watchlist

The Watchlist (formerly the "queue") on Hulu is a powerful way to stay up to date with your favorite new content on the site—which happens almost daily, since Hulu has next-day airings of a lot of network TV. The secret: find the page for your favorite show on Hulu, and mark it as a favorite with a checkmark. The Watchlist is also available on all Hulu apps so you never miss a show—a "New Episode" banner appears as needed. You can also visit the Watchlist from the top menu in a desktop browser. I miss that you can't click "edit settings" for each show as you did with the old Queue to specify if Hulu should add just the latest episodes or all episodes available. To keep it from getting overwhelming, trim the list after your old favorite shows get cancelled or leave Hulu altogether (good-bye, Flash and Arrow!).

Access Outside the USA

Hulu is US-based (the Japanese version, operated by Nippon TV, looks like it, but is entirely separate). When you travel outside the US and want to access Hulu, you're generally out of luck. The only solution: use a virtual private network (VPN) service that makes it look like you're still state-side. Your best bet is a paid VPN service like TunnelBear ($6.99 per month on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Chrome) or our PCMag Editors' Choice NordVPN ($8 per month on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android). If you prefer not to pay, we prefer CyberGhost VPN, but it restricts you to three hours per session.

Hulu App as Remote

A pretty standard thing these days is using the mobile app for a video streaming service as a remote control as you're watching the same service on the big screen. If you're watching Hulu on a smart TV or via a game console or media hub, open up Hulu on your smartphone as well. If they're all on the same account, you'll see the cast icon in the upper right—it looks like a TV screen with radio waves bouncing off. Click it, pick the device you want to control, and the cast icon fills in to indicate they're paired. The mobile device now lets you pause or play, skip back 10 seconds, turn captions on or off, and best of all, find other stuff to watch and launch on the big screen. Even as it plays, navigate around Hulu on the app, and just re-access the controls at the bottom as needed to keep in control. You can also use the Apple Watch as a Hulu remote.

Always Get HD

You can't always choose that the video quality on Hulu is full high definition, especially in the apps. But if you're watching on the desktop with a browser, click the gear icon on the video. There's a Quality setting from low to high on up to HD. There's also an "auto" setting so Hulu picks the best setting it can based on your Internet connection.

Adjust Subtitles for Readability

You can easily turn off Closed Captions on any Hulu app. When you do it on the desktop, you get options for on and off, but also options for changing the look of the captions in radical ways: color, font, size, opacity, drop shadows, transparency, you name it. It doesn't translate to the other venues for the service—setting it on the PC doesn't give you the same subtitles on the smart TV—but if you're primarily on the desktop, it's a great option.

Lock out the Kids

It's actually more like locking out the adults—or the content for them, anyway. Kids Lock on Hulu restricts the device in question to only show material suitable for ages 17 and under. On iPhone or Android devices, open the Hulu app and go to the Kids section, then click the lock icon at the top. After that, the only way to see areas outside of Hulu Kids is to click the lock icon again and re-enter the Hulu account password.

Get Plenti of Points

The Plenti card is a new multi-store rewards card offered by such diverse businesses as Rite Aid, Mobil, Macy's, and AT&T, to name a few. You earn points for money spent, which eventually lets you get free stuff. Turns out Plenti and Hulu have a deal: you get 200 points for every 10 episodes you watch of qualifying shows. If you prefer, the refer a friend offer can be switched, so you get two weeks of free Hulu instead of Plenti points.

If you've got the card, be sure to register the number in your Hulu account settings, otherwise you're missing out on free points. You get 200 for the first device you register (PC browser doesn't count); 525 Plenti points if you refer a friend who becomes a paid subscriber (there's a 30 friend/15,750 point maximum); and 500 Plenti points if you buy a $100 Hulu gift card that's redeemed within 6 months.

Put Subscription on Hold

Going on vacation or sabbatical? You can pick a one- to 12-week duration to place a Hulu subscription on hold. That means you won't be able to watch any of the subscriber-only shows, just the ones typically available for free—but you also won't be billed during that time. If you don't cancel in the meantime, the subscription and billing starts again at the end of the hold session. If your Hulu account is billed via Roku, Amazon, or iTunes, you can't do this.

Hulu Has Exclusives & Originals

Hulu used to just cater to those who didn't want cable, but wanted the major network shows (at least some of them). Sensing that Netflix was successful because of its original programming, Hulu has joined in. Not only is it buying up exclusives on shows like Seinfeld and Homeland, but it's also got a bunch of originals now. Some are of questionable quality, like Deadbeat and Quick Draw, but more recent offerings like the Hotwives comedies, and especially Difficult People, 11/22/63, The Path, and the Golden Globe-nominated Casual, are setting a higher bar. Coming soon: a mini-series based on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale starring Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men.

Protect Your Account

In Settings on a desktop PC using the Web interface, click Protect Your Account and Hulu will log you out of every single Hulu session you've ever set up—that includes any friends and family using the account, as well as enemies of yours stealing your account. You can be a little more judicious about it by clicking Manage Your Devices and only unlinking those you know for sure don't deserve access.

Clamoring for 4K

If you want the best possible picture on your streaming video, you've got it on Hulu now, with a lot of caveats. First, it's only on select films and shows—currently only Hulu original's like The Path, Chance, 11.22.63 , and Shut Eye , plus all the Bond films. Second, you must be watching on a 4K TV using either a Xbox One S or PlayStation 4 Pro. And have an Internet connection running at least 13 Megabit per second downloads or better. But the options will open up a lot more throughout 2017.

Update your Flash

Hulu's used Flash (now with a DRM scheme ) since its inception on Web browsers, and still does. For now, Hulu still requires Flash for desktop viewing, and to get the best performance on a PC, it's best to make sure you've got the latest version. This probably won't last... even Adobe has recommended disabling Flash when possible. But until it makes the switch to HTML5 (like Netflix, YouTube, and Vimeo before them), Hulu users should use the latest to stay secure.

Get Around Flash

Flash is only needed for the desktop/Web version of Hulu; it isn't utilized when accessing Hulu on mobile (iOS doesn't support Flash whatsoever). So you can get around the need for Flash by spoofing that your browser is on a mobile device—like the iPad, which uses iOS. To do that, change the "user agent" in your browser—it's the tool that tells a website what operating system and browser you're using. Chrome and Firefox have add-ons that make this possible; other browsers, like Safari, have the tools built in.

Watch Hulu on Ubuntu

Hulu not only uses Flash on the desktop, but uses a special Flash DRM (digital rights management) scheme to protect its content. That DRM requires a library called HAL to run—and that's not included when you run Ubuntu. The OMG!Ubuntu forum has instructions on how to get HAL installed in version 14.04 and later.